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BASIS San Antonio Medical Center Comprehensive Exam Support Guide

2016-2017 School Year 7th Grade

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Test Day Information

Comprehensive exam week is scheduled from May 22nd through May 24th. A schedule with time and

location information will be available the week before the exams. Below is a schedule of which

exams will be held on what day.

Monday, May 22nd Tuesday, May 23rd Wednesday, May 24th

English History Math

Physics Chemistry Foreign Language

Biology

General Rules and Guidelines during Testing

Plan to arrive at least 30 minutes before testing begins. Please note that students who are late

will not be allowed to test.

Electronics are NOT allowed in testing rooms i.e. any SMART device, watch, cell phone,

computer, etc.

Snacks are NOT allowed at any point during testing. Students are permitted to bring one bottle

of water.

Absolutely NO leisure reading and/or studying materials are allowed during testing.

Supplies

Students should bring No. 2 pencils, pens, erasers, and calculators (as authorized).

Students may bring a clear bottle of water. They are not allowed to study notes for other

exams in the testing room. Snacks are NOT permitted in the testing room.

Lunch

Lunch will run as normal. The full testing schedule with lunch time information will be available

the week before the exams.

Preparing for the Exams

Comprehensive exams are cumulative; which means they cover a lot of material. It takes planning

and preparation weeks prior to the exam to ensure a successful outcome. Below we’ve listed advice

and strategies to help students better prepare for these exams, as well as ways to help manage stress

during the upcoming weeks.

Break the Stress Week

This time of year is crunch time for students with a substantial amount of studying and preparation

providing their fair share of stress and frustrations. Break the Stress Week is intended to relieve students

of the stress right before pre-comps week.

Break the Stress will be held during review week (May 15th through May 19th). Be on the lookout for the

full schedule on our website and on the Badger Broadcast newsletter.



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Avoid the 10 Traps of Studying

Trap #1: "I don't know where to begin." Solution: Take control. Prioritize! Schedule your time

realistically. Interrupt study time with planned study breaks. Begin studying early increasing

daily study time as the exam approaches.

Trap # 2: " I've got so much to study and so little time" Solution: Identify the most important

topics emphasized and areas still not understood.

Trap # 3: This stuff is so dry; I can't even stay awake reading it. Solution: Attack! Get actively

involved with the text as you read. Discuss the material with others in your class. Study

together.

Trap #4: "I read it. I understand it. I just can't remember it." Solution: Elaborate. We remember

best the things that are most meaningful to us. As you are reading, try to elaborate upon new

information with your own examples.

Trap #5: “I guess I understand it.” Solution: Test yourself. Make up questions about key concepts

in your notes or reading. Examine relationships between concepts and sections. Change

section headings to questions and see if you can answer them.

Trap #6: “There is too much to remember.” Solution: Organize. Information is recalled better if it

is in an organized framework making retrieval more systematic.

Trap #7: “I knew it a minute ago.” Solution: Review. After reading a section, ask yourself

questions over what you read. Re-read portions you do not remember. Review notes daily and

weekly. You cannot over study; however, how you organize the information is more important

than how much time you spend studying.

Trap #8: “But I like to study in bed.” Solution: Context. Recall is better when study context

(physical location, as well as mental, emotional, and physical state) are similar to the test

context. The greater the similarity between the study setting and the test setting, the greater

the likelihood of recall at test time.

Trap #9: “Cramming before a test helps keep it fresh on my mind.” Solution: Space it out.

Recall increases as review gets spread out over time. Repeated review of the material over

many days and weeks develops neural pathways to the stored information in your brain so

you can retrieve it when you need it.

Trap # 10: “I'm gonna stay up all night untill I get this.” Solution: Avoid mental exhaustion. Take

short breaks often when studying. Before a test, have a rested mind. Lack of sleep plus stress

causes your body to produce a chemical that actually blocks information retrieval.

Study Strategy - The Feynman Technique for Learning and Studying

Step One: Choose Your Concept. The first step is to choose the concept you want to

understand. Take a blank piece of paper and write the name of that concept at the top of

the page.

Step Two: Pretend You're Teaching the Idea to a New Student. The second step is to write out

an explanation, as if you were teaching it to someone who didn't understand the subject. This

is crucial because in explaining to yourself the ideas you already understand, as well as the

ones you don't, you gain a better understanding and pinpoint exactly the details you don't

understand.



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Step Three: Whenever You Get Stuck, Go Back to the Book. Whenever you get stuck, go back

to the reference materials, lectures or a teacher assistant and re--read or re--learn the material

until you do get it enough that you can explain it on the paper.

Step Four: Simplify and Create Analogies Wherever you create a wordy or confusing

explanation, try to either simplify the language, or create an analogy to understand it better.

Additional Tips Using this Technique:

o For math: This technique can be used for understanding mathematical or technical

classes, carefully walking through the steps and explaining it to yourself.

o For all classes: If you're trying to understand an idea, you can walk through this

technique very slowly to pinpoint exactly what you don't understand, so you can go to

the textbook, lecture notes or a teacher and figure out exactly what detail you're

missing.

o For test preparation: If you want to use this technique to study for tests, go through the

technique without looking at your reference materials. That's a really good way to self-

test, to see if you understand the ideas deeply. Because if you can go through and

explain the material, without looking back at your textbook, that means you really

understand the ideas.

Strategies to Help Prevent Test Anxiety

Before you go to sleep the night before the test, don't think about academics. Relax and

unwind, mentally and physically. Take care of yourself before an exam! Eat healthy, sleep,

and get enough exercise.

Know where and when your exam will be given. Schedules will be posted around the

school. Make sure you arrive in plenty of time to go to your locker first.

Before reading the first test question, write down formulas you need at the top of the exam.

If you don’t know it, skip it. You can come back to it and the last thing you want is to run out

of time and leave questions you know blank.

Make sure to eat breakfast! Fresh fruits and vegetables are often recommended to reduce

stress.

Strive for a relaxed state of concentration. Avoid speaking with any fellow students who have

not prepared, who express negativity, who will distract your preparation.

Create a Study Schedule

Creating a study schedule will help you focus on actual studying. Schedule your studying, prioritize

your time, and focus on you’re the subject in which you struggle most. The more you stick to your

plan, the more productive you'll be and ready to take those exams.

Preview: What topics will be on the exam?

Assess: Don't relearn the entire semester; look for gaps in knowledge. • Determine what you

are shaky on and focus on studying that.

Materials: Gather materials for each exam: syllabi, study guides, notes, review packets, slides,

handouts, textbook, etc.

Prioritize: Prioritize your time based on order of your exams OR by difficulty of the subject.



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Comprehensive Exams Road Maps

Algebra 1

1. We have finished up the lessons in the Saxon Algebra I book, and have been be working on

reviewing for the Algebra I End of Course Exam, which is given on May 1st. After the EOC exam,

we will return to the Saxon textbook to review for the Comps.

2. In May, our weekly tests will emphasize the material needed to do well on the Comps. Students

will receive a comprehensive review packet to work on at home, while we use class time for

various review activities. This packet will be handed out as soon as the EOC is done. So, help

your student to pace themselves and do a few problems each night until exams begin.

3. Help is offered during student hours, which are now being held Tuesdays and Thursdays after

school and on Friday mornings between 7:15 and 8:15 AM.

Biology

We made it to the end of the year! This year’s comprehensive exam will test the students on all of

the material from day one with an emphasis on plant characteristics, structure, and processes.

Also, the eight phyla of invertebrates and vertebrates (chordata phylum) will be included along

with their characteristics, structure, and processes. Finally, Ecology will also be on the

comprehensive exam. (Note: Ecology has yet to be covered).

I encourage students to review not only recent material, but also make sure to look over the pre

comp road map as well. There will be older material on the comprehensive exam as well. Review

your notes each day for 10-15 minutes. Also, I highly encourage flash cards as this will help

organize the immense amount of information that has been covered the second half of the year.

We will be reviewing much of next month in May. Look over your study guides that have been

prepared for you for each test. Please contact me via email should you need any copies of any of

the former study guides at [email protected].

Below is the subject content for the plant and animal units as well as Ecology:

Plants:

1. General Characteristics

2. Photosynthesis (Process, reactants and products)

3. Sporophytes/Gametophytes, Alternation of generations

4. Vascular vs. Nonvascular

5. Angiosperms / Gymnosperms

6. Monocots vs. Dicots

7. Life cycles of mosses, ferns, pine trees

8. Benefits of seeds

9. Anatomy of the plant, including structures in the leaf, xylem and phloem

10. Plantlets, tubers, runners (asexual reproduction in plants)

11. Translocation and Transpiration

12. Tropism and its 3 types, phototropism, gravitropism, and thigmotropism

Animals:

1. Characteristics of animals

2. Overview of all 9 phyla (porifera, cnidarian, mollusks, platyhelminthes, nematoda, annileda,

echinoderms, arthropods) also phylum chordota (vertebrates)

mailto:[email protected]



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3. Physiology / Anatomy definitions

4. Essential Animal Functions*

a. Feeding

b. Respiration

c. Circulation

d. Excretion

e. Response

f. Movement

g. Reproduction

5. Trends

6. Body arrangement and symmetry (asymmetric, symmetric, radial)

7. Cephalization / Segmentation

*Note: students are responsible to know in greater detail these above listed essential functions and

characteristics for each individual phylum, including their respective anatomy

Ecology:

1. What is ecology?

2. Abiotic / Biotic factors

3. Species and populations

4. Ecology hierarchy including community, ecosystems, and biospheres

5. Competition and limiting factors

6. Mutualism, commensalism, parasitism

7. Autotrophs vs. Heterotrophs

8. Relationship between predator and prey

9. Food chains

Chemistry – Ms. Simons

Helpful info for all three weeks of studying.

Check your kiddos CJ! We will include important updates there. This will also give you insight

into what handouts they have been given and what their completion requirements are.

B. Start studying early (aka... NOW!!) for best results. Your BASIS SA science crew recommends a

minimum of 15 minutes of studying per night, per science for a total of 45 minutes per night

beginning ASAP. This means planning ahead so that students do not waste their time and have

a clear layout of topics that will be covered.

C. Don't just memorize definitions; instead, be able to apply them. Basic definition

memorization WILL NOT HELP YOUR STUDENT! As a parent, ask them to explain the terms in their

own words! Then follow up! When would you use that information? How might it change in this

scenario, or that one? Keeping the students on their toes, keeps their brains sharp and preps

them for exams!

1. Week One:

o We will be covering gas laws and stoichiometry this week. Students will have an exam D2

of this week. All exams are cumulative, but focus on new material in order to help

prepare students for comps. Students will receive a comp review packet with an outline

of all subjects that could be assessed. Students will have specific due dates for each

section of the review. This will be separate homework grades. Completion of the packet

will be a quiz grade as well.



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2. Week Two:

o Review conservation of matter, moles, stoichiometry, and gas laws.

3. Week Three:

o Review material before pre-comps which includes laboratory, properties of matter, and

chemical bonding.

Chemistry – Mr. Nitz

1. Week One:

a. D1: review Charles Law, Boyles Law, Guy Lussac’s Law

b. D2: review Ideal Gas Law

c. D3: Review Gas Stoichiometry

2. Week Two:

a. D1: study the periodic table, types of matter, identify compounds, elements, and

mixtures by description and pictures and recognize different types of mixtures group

names and characteristics Have the element symbols memorized and be able to predict

the ions that elements will form, identify characteristics of metals, nonmetals and

metalloids and know where on the periodic table they are located. Know the groups

and periods

b. D2: review trends. Know ionization energy, atomic radii, and electronegativity and the

patterns that appear on the periodic table, practice electron configuration for the first

20 elements, full and noble gas shortcut. Know how to determine the valence electrons

from them. Review practice test, study sig fig rules! Practice identifying types of

equipment and measurements. Study practice test.

c. D3: practice naming ionic compounds including transition metals and polyatomics.

Know how to determine which rules to follow. Understand the characteristic of ionic

compounds. Review practice test, practice name covalent compounds and identify the

appropriate prefix. Understand the properties of covalent compounds and metallic

compounds. Review practice test problems. Know Lewis structures and the correct way

to draw them and what happens with the valence electrons. Calculate core and

valence electrons. Review practice test

3. Week Three:

a. D1: Review Reaction types

b. D2: Review Conversion factors (Mass-mass, mole-mass, mole-particle)

c. D3: Review Stoichiometry

English

Directions: Use this as a guide, during review week, to study for the Comprehensive exam. These

are all the possible topics that you could be tested on. I would encourage you to study these

topics the DAY BEFORE we review them in class so you can come prepared with questions. For

example, study “Day 1 (Monday)” on Sunday night. Also, don’t procrastinate! This is a lot of

material, and you won’t learn it by trying to memorize right before the test.

Day 1 (Monday):

Parts of speech

o Adverb

Possessive Pronouns

Relative pronoun

Pronoun-antecedent agreement



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Conjunctions

o Coordinating (FANBOYS)

o Correlative

o Subordinating

Prepositional phrases (be able to identify prepositions)

o Used as an adjective

o Used as an adverb

Object of Preposition (be able to identify)

Day 2 (Tuesday):

Verb types

o Action- transitive

o Action- intransitive

o Linking

o Auxiliary

Objects

o Direct

o Indirect

Complements

o Predicate Nominative

o Predicate Adjective

Sentence types

o Independent and dependent clauses

o Simple, compound, complex, compound-complex

Day 3 (Wednesday):

Parts of a sentence

o Simple Predicate

o Complete Predicate

o Compound Predicate

o Simple Subject

o Complete Subject

o Compound Subject

Comma/Apostrophe mechanics

Run-ons and fragments

Parallelism

Placement of modifiers

Subject-verb agreement

Stanza (know what it is)

Reading Skills:

o Sequence of events

o Identify main ideas

o Identify significant events

o Infer word meaning

o Summarizing

Day 4 (Thursday):

Verbals



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o Gerund/Gerund phrase

o Participle (past, present; verb, adjective)/participial phrase

o Infinitive/Infinitive Phrase

Appositives and Appositive Phrases

Verb Tense

o Present

o Past

o Future

o Present, past, and future perfect

o Present, past, and future progressive

o Present, past, and future perfect progressive

Day 5 (Friday):

Plot structure (Exposition, Inciting Incident, Rising Action, Climax, Falling Action, Resolution)

Setting (know the definition)

Conflict types

o Man vs. Man

o Man vs. Self

o Man vs. Nature

o Man vs. Society

Characterization:

o Direct

o Indirect

Character types:

o Antagonist and protagonist

Narrator Types:

o 1st Person

o 3rd Person

Figurative language:

o Metaphor

o Simile

o Hyperbole

o Personification

o Characterization

o Setting

o Foreshadowing

o Imagery

o Tone

o Mood

o Theme

Irony:

o Situational

o Dramatic

o Verbal

Voice:

o Active and passive



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French – Mr. Taku

French 7 (IA) Comp Question Blueprint 2017 Topic

Approx.

Number of Questions

Level of difficulty 1:

recognition, translation

« what is the correct

translation of ….. ? »

Level of difficulty 2:

application of knowledge, creation of

language (fill in the blank, complete the

sentence) Numbers 60-100 2 X Les loisirs : faire du shopping/du sport/une randonnée/du camping/ du vélo/avoir du temps libre, les vacances, les vacances scolaires, les fêtes, une fête d’anniversaire, jouer au foot/volley, de la musique….

2

X

X

Colors (plurals and genders) : rouge, bleu, vert, jaune, noir, marron, gris, orange, rose, violet, blanc, violet, brun

2

X

X

Animals (singulars and plurals) : chat, chien, cheval

1

X

Basic informal/formal greetings : Salut, comment ça va, comment vas-tu/allez-vous?

1

X

Telling time (digital style) : Quel heure est-il ? Il est X heures Y

1

X

Weather and Seasons : Quel temps fait-il ? Il fait beau, mauvais, froid, gris, chaud

1

X

Basic good-byes : au revoir, à demain, à la prochaine, à tout à l’heure, à + day of the week, bonne journée, bon après-midi, bonne soirée, bon weekend, à bientôt

1

X

Reading comprehension portion of the comp:

Below is an example of a simple reading comprehension text we will need to include. Four of the

38 questions will be based upon the reading comprehension text. Please feel free to send me

similar examples for consideration. The final text will be a new creation based on the input I

receive.

Salut ! Je m’appelle Axel Dupont. J’habite au Canada avec ma famille. J’ai quinze ans et mon

anniversaire c’est le douze novembre. J’aime beaucoup les animaux et j’ai trois chats et cinq

chiens. Je n’ai pas de frères, mais j’ai une sœur qui s’appelle Hélène, et elle adore les maths. Moi,

je n’aime pas les maths mais j’adore l’histoire. Mes profs sont tous très sympas et très drôles. J’adore

l’école !

History

1. Study carefully the questions from Tests # 1, 2, 3, 4, & 5.

a. All students should have retained their Tests (they need to get with me if they are missing

one of these Tests/Quizzes).

b. I have already given these instructions to my classes.

2. Secondary study material will be:



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a. All of their notes from my lectures for the entire year.

b. Textbook: pages 14 thru 520.

c. Importantly: Notes they will take through the five days of Comp. Review week.

3. On or before Monday, 5-15-17, I will provide each student with a review sheet for both the

Native and Common (from Alex Decker, SAD) and portions of the Comp. Exam.

4. I am not suggesting that the students begin serious review for the 7th Grade History Comp Exam

until the evening of Thursday, 5-11-17, the date of their final test, Test # 5. I want them focused

on new material and studying for their final quiz, Quiz # 15 (5-4-17) and that final Test # 5 (5-11-

17).

Latin

1. Look over the topics list on the study guide and identify areas where you need extra work.

Use your notes to study these topics. Write down any questions you have and bring them to

class or student hours. If you did not do as well as you’d hoped on the precomp, many of

the topics will come up again. Make sure you have your declensions and conjugations

memorized! Work through the practice problems in the study guide. Try to fill it out without

looking at your notes, since you won’t have them on the comp. Your Latin comp is your last

comp, but start studying early. Don’t leave it until the night before!

2. Three weeks before comp: Review your tenses and voices. You will need to know how to

form all six tenses in the active voice, and the present tense in the passive voice. Make sure

you know the differences between the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 3rd –io and 4th conjugations.

3. Two weeks before comp: Review your declensions. Make sure you know the 1st, 2nd and 3rd

declension endings for masculine, feminine and neuter nouns, as well as 3rd declension

adjectives. Make sure you understand noun-adjective agreement, and can decline a

phrase containing both a noun and an adjective. Continue reviewing your tenses and

voices.

4. Week before comp: Review problem areas from the last two weeks. Review the forms you

have memorized, and make sure you still know them.

Mandarin – Mr. Lai

1. Week One:

o Study over Topic 1 Intro, review all the facts about China, major cities and famous

landmarks. Also study the greeting terms.

o Topic 2 The language, review pinyin, study the radicals and basic stroke order rules. Also

study the numbers. (Textbook Lesson 9 and 10)

o Study over Topic 4 Colors packet, review all the color terms, how to use color to describe

different objects. (Textbook Lesson 28)

o Topic 5 Myself, review terms on "what is your name?", "what is your surname?", "How old

are you?". (Textbook Lesson 18)

o Topic 6 Family packet, review all the family terms, countries, nationality and

language terms, "where are you from?" Also the Occupations packet, review all the

occupation terms and "what you want to become?" Fully understand all the Pronouns in

Mandarin, I, you, he, she, it, plural. (Textbook Lesson 15, 17 and 18)

2. Week Two:



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o Study over Topic 7 Time/ Date, how to apply numbers in daily life packet. (Textbook

Lesson 21)

o Review the days of the week terms, time expression terms such as year, month, date,

hour, minute. Every day, today, yesterday, tomorrow.

o Topic 8 sentence structure, understand the basic sentence structure: Subject + verbs +

object. Know all the Question particles, such as what, question word, how many, who,

where, how. Also understand how the complex sentence structure: Subject + when +

where + verb + object.

o Topic 9 Clothing, remember all the clothing terms as well the measure words for different

clothing terms. (Textbook Lesson 29)

o Topic 10 Chinese New Year, study all the facts that is list on the blueprint.

3. Week Three:

o Topic 11 Body parts, remember all the body parts terms as well able to describe a

person’s appearance such as hair color, height, facial features, etc. (Textbook Lesson 31)

o Topic 12 Animals, study all the animals terms as well the measure words for different

animal terms. Also need to able to describe animals, such as its size, color, can review

body parts vocab with this unit. Talk about your favorite animal. (Textbook Lesson 14)

o Topic 13 Backpack, study all the terms that are inside your backpack (Textbook Lesson 9

and 10)

o Topic 14 Food, study the fruit terms, vegetable terms, snack terms and fast food terms.

(Textbook Lesson 25 and 27)

4. Remember to go over the previous quizzes and tests. Also make sure to use the Comp review

packet to study over all the vocabularies, go over your flash cards, study vocabularies on

Quizlet.com (under "DerekLaoShi", Classes would be under "Mandarin 7 BSAMC")

Physics

1. What your student should be doing at home.

o Your student’s well-prepared notes are the best study guide. Students should study all

previous exams and quizzes. In addition, complete the different review guides as they

are released.

2. What we are doing in class.

o We are now reviewing different topics that trouble many students in each class. We will

have our final test of the year on May 11th or 12th depending on the element.

3. Additional review time outside of class.

o All students are encouraged to attend regular student hours on Tuesday from 7:30 – 8:15

a.m.

4. General outline of Comp topics:

o Units and Prefixes

o Kinematics (Speed, velocity, acceleration, graphing)

o Mass and inertia

o Forces

o Law of Universal Gravitation

o Work, Power, and Energy

o Momentum and collisions

o Electrostatics

o Waves



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Spanish – Ms. Pardo

1. Check your kiddos CJ! We will include important updates there. This will also give you insight

into what handouts they have been given and what their completion requirements

are. Communication between students and parents is KEY during this pre-COMP study time.

2. Students should continue keeping up with their flashcard log. It is recommended that the

student study for a minimum of 15 minutes per night so they don’t feel overwhelmed the week

before pre-comps. This means planning ahead so that student does not waste their time and

has a clear layout of topics that will be covered. Identify early on the areas that the student is

weak in and plan on focusing more on those topics. Don’t wait until the night before your comp

to study! Foreign language is usually the last pre-comp. Students are exhausted by the time

they get to their last comp. Therefore, it is strongly recommended that the student start EARLY in

studying for their language pre-comp!

3. Know how to apply grammar rules. As a parent, ask them to explain the terms in their own

words! Then follow up! When would you use that information? How might it change in this

scenario, or that one? Keeping the students on their toes, keeps their brains sharp and preps

them for exams! Quiz them on their vocab! Vocab is essential in acquiring a foreign language.

Also, Quizlet has great interactive assessments that students can use to test their knowledge on

specific topics and chapters from the book.

4. PLEASE START STUDYING AT LEAST A WEEK IN ADVANCE!! DO NOT WAIT UNTIL THE NIGHT BEFORE!!!

Even if you are doing well in the class, remember that prior grammar and vocab rules will be

tested on!! Do not think that you don’t need to study!!

5. Get a good nights rest and eat a nourishing breakfast.

Recommended Websites:

1. Studyspanish.com

2. Realidades Level 1 - Prentice Hall

o Day 1- Review chapter 3A/ 3B vocab and grammar

o Day 2 –Review chapter 4 A vocab and grammar

o Day 3- Review Chapter 4B vocab and grammar

o Day 4 -Review Chapter 5A vocab and grammar

o Day 5 - Review Chapter 5B vocab/grammar and any other topics for the first

semester you feel weak in ( adjective agreement, subject verb agreement, etc)

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwi98enJlq7RAhVkwFQKHa3rDioQFggaMAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.phschool.com%2Fwebcodes10%2Findex.cfm%3Ffuseaction%3Dhome.gotoWebCode%26wcprefix%3Djck%26wcsuffix%3D0001&usg=AFQjCNF50lciFAn2HxP-4tY9_JcMs7RbsA

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